The content is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.

Applying for a credit card has a lot of benefits. Some credit cards give you a cash back percentage for all sorts of purchases, some give you a very low interest rate for the first few months while others may allow you discount on select purchases from different stores. However, if your credit history is not of the very top notch, you might want to double check the offers you have and look for every single phrase even in the fine print. After all, there is a very big difference between "up to 12 months" and "at least 12 months". In some cases, a person with bad credit will get the offer for much less than the period of 12 months.

One of the best examples in these lines is the annual fee of the credit card. The fee that is collected by the credit card companies is not always very clear, one of the reasons it is called hidden fee in most cases, passed off by the credit card company as processing fee. The same is the case with balance transfers.

Although it says 0% interest rate there is a 5% balance transfer fee usually levied by the credit card companies. This is why, when it says no annual fee on the credit card, one must read it as no annual fee for the first year, or that the annual fee has been waived off for a certain period of time which must be clarified. Many people often think that the card doesn`t have annual fee and hence they are not charged anything if they leave it as is. Even if they do use it they do not suspect that there is going to be some deduction termed as annual fee. Funnily, some cards offer 0% initially and then a big jump after the intro period. While choosing for the credit card, the unsuspecting customer might choose the card with greater charges including annual fee than the card which would have been more profitable.

Certain credit card companies like Airlines Credit cards often do have negotiable annual fee. This means there is a reward of certain air miles for every dollar purchase that you make. You can go for another option by talking to credit card company, wherein, your air miles are halved but your annual fee is waived off. If you are someone who travel less, this is definitely worth trying out.

Disclaimer: This editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer(s). Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer(s), and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer(s). Reasonable efforts are made to present accurate information, however all information is presented without warranty. Consult a card's issuing bank for the terms & conditions.
All rates and fees, and other terms and conditions of the products mentioned in this article/post are actual as of the last update date but are subject to change. See the current products' Terms & Conditions on the issuing banks' websites.